First Trailer For 'Flamin' Hot' Shows The Hot Cheeto Origin Story
Jesse Garcia and Dennis Haysbert in FLAMIN’ HOT. Photo by Anna Kooris. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.
For some, out of the incredible theatrical slate for 2023, one movie stands out: the one about the Hot Cheeto. The film, Flamin' Hot, is the directorial debut of Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) and tells the story of Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), the man who (claims to have) created the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto snack. Flamin' Hot follows Richard from his childhood as he navigates the unfair structure of corporate America while dealing with problems from his past, and the nagging issue of having a higher ambition than the system would like him to have.
Our chief film critic, Eze Baum, caught the film at its world premiere at SXSW, and praised Jesse Garcia’s performance, highlighting his “strong on-screen presence,” but also pointed out that the film feels too much like a “crowd-pleaser,” saying, “the screenplay remains very surface-level and doesn’t aim to do more than tell this story with a single message. To sell this message, Flamin' utilizes a handful of pep talks and speeches [—too many speeches—].”
Flamin' Hot arrives on Disney+ and Hulu on June 9.
